Страница 55 из 74
«I don’t know how they survive it,» Sha
«Most of them don’t,» Cherokee said. «Not for long, anyways.»
The wind howled around the tiny cabin, foretelling the storm to come.
«I’d better go,» Sha
She turned around — and saw a big man riding toward her out of the wild afternoon.
«Whip.»
At Sha
Sha
«What are you doing here?» Sha
«What the hell do you think I’m doing?» Whip asked bitterly, reining in just short of Sha
«You left out the part where a grizzly eats her,» Cherokee said dryly. «But since she’ll be froze to death first, it don’t make no never mind, do it?»
«That’s not true,» Sha
«Howdy, Whip,» Cherokee called cheerfully, overwhelming Sha
Whip didn’t even look away from Sha
«I left Sugarfoot to graze around the damned hovel Sha
«Thought so. Get down and set awhile.»
«Thank you, no,» Whip said, still not looking away from Sha
«It’s not leaky,» Sha
«Only because I shoved half the mountainside into the cracks,» Whip shot back.
Cherokee snickered. «Well, children, I’ll leave you to it. My bones ain’t up to the chill.»
With that, Cherokee backed away and shut the cabin door against the cold, questing wind.
«Can Prettyface make it to your shack?» Whip asked.
«You’re the man with all the answers, what do you think?» Sha
«I think you’re a damned fool.»
«How quaint. Cherokee thinks the same of you. So do I. You’ve had a long ride for nothing, Whip Moran.» Sha
Whip hissed a foreign word between his teeth. Not until he saw the anger in Sha
Cherokee is right. I’m a damned fool.
«Get on the mule,» Whip said curtly.
Sha
Whip was aware of it. Just seeing her walk raised undiluted hell with his body.
Deliberately Whip looked away.
«If Prettyface starts limping, holler,» Whip said curtly. «He can ride across my saddle. Moccasin won’t mind. Wolfe breaks his horses to take anything in their stride.»
Sha
The man looked the same.
By the time they reached the cabin, Sha
Whip grabbed her. Though he was wearing gloves and Sha
But there was no confusion about one thing. Sha
With a vicious word, Whip set Sha
«No,» he said coldly. «Don’t touch me.»
Stu
«Whip?»
«I mean it,» Whip said fiercely. «Don’t touch me. I came here to dig gold, not to dig a deeper hole with you. When Reno and I find enough gold to see you through the winter, I’m gone. Do you hear me, Sha
Waves of hurt and humiliation swept through Sha
«Yes,» Sha
Whip closed his eyes against the humiliation he saw in Sha
«Sha
There was no answer.
Whip opened his eyes. He was alone with the cold wind.
He told himself that it was better this way, for Sha
It’s better this way.
It has to be.
Nothing else would be worth the pain I saw in her eyes.
SHANNON awoke at the first unearthly notes of the panpipes. She had never heard the tune before, but she knew it was a lamentation. Grief resonated in the keening, minor key harmonies and shivering, wailing echoes, as though a man was breathing in pain and exhaling sorrow.
The haunting music closed Sha
«Damn you, Whip Moran,» she whispered to the darkness. «What right have you to mourn? It was your choice, not mine.»
There was no answer but a soulful cry of loss and damnation breathed into the night.
It was a long time before Sha
When Sha
Beneath a clear sky and a waning moon, snow lay everywhere, soft and chill and moist. Too thin to survive the coming day, the layer of snow waited for its inevitable end in the rising heat of the sun.
But until that came, every twig, every leaf, everything touching the snow would leave a clear mark. Especially the hooves of deer.
Hurriedly Sha
Don’t think about Whip. He’s gone whether he’s here or on the other side of the world.
He doesn’t want me. He couldn’t have made it any plainer if he had carved it on me with that bullwhip of his.
The unexpected weight of her jacket made Sha
With a grimace of remembered humiliation, Sha